Kirby and Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai announced that his Game Designers Award will be discontinued due to his inability to find a successor.

Since 2010, Sakurai has presented the award at the Japan Game Awards, and at 2026's event – where Pokemon Pokopia took home the grand prize (its version of game of the year) – the prize went to Word Game by Team9. The award is presented by Sakurai, who is also the head judge and responsible for inviting other judges, with the criteria being those who have made innovative games; these have included the likes of Ico designer Fumito Ueda, Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami, and Undertale's Toby Fox.

Upon presenting the 2026 award, Sakurai confirmed he would discontinue it, claiming he was unable to find anyone to replace him as its leader. Granted, this may sound harsh – as if no one is worthy of taking on the role – but the reality seems to be no one else was able to take on the time-consuming responsibility. Sakurai also spoke about creativity in games (translation from Automaton) – something that is central to this award – noting that while "originality doesn’t really have much impact on sales," it's still crucial, as "an industry that loses its originality will simply die a slow death."

In an era when budgets are getting even bigger for every game, it's becoming rarer to see that kind of originality on the AAA scale. A perfect example is given to us by Sony over this last week, where Marvel's Wolverine has caught flak for feeling very homogenous – especially with other Sony first-party games – while the publisher dropped Hideo Kojima's next game, Physint; reportedly due to budget issues.

Opinions on Kojima and his games aside, he is one of the few creators left in AAA whose creativity still shines through. You know when you are playing a Kojima game, just like when I booted up Kirby Air Riders last year I felt the Sakurai shine through; the same goes for a Hideki Kamiya or a Yoko Taro game. Thankfully, indie games have creativity to spare, meaning that even as AAA is forced to be safer than ever, we'll still have people pushing boundaries.

Super Smash Bros creator Masahiro Sakurai sometimes "sounds exactly like Goku," ex-Tekken boss says: "A Saiyan who genuinely believes he's just another ordinary human"

There are many, many, many new games being released in the next few weeks, and up until a few moments ago, you could've counted Rayman Legends Retold among them. Ubisoft has just announced that the platformer remake has gone gold, but it's also been delayed out of the absurd game rush that we're currently being crushed under.

"Rayman Legends Retold will release on December 3rd," Ubisoft says in a message on Bluesky. "While the game has officially gone gold, we have decided to take extra time to make sure every detail gets the care it deserves."

I'm not sure I've ever seen a simultaneous announcement that a game's both been delayed and gone gold. Historically, going gold meant that a game had been finalized as its discs went off to manufacturing, but the term's come to mean a lot less in the modern era of digital distribution and day one patches. As with many Ubisoft titles, the front of Rayman Legends Retold's box warns that "internet is required to install the game," so I'm honestly not sure how gold any of this really is.

The game had previously been set to launch on October 1, right in between the likes of – deep breath – Marvel's Wolverine, Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave, Silent Hill: Townfall, Control Resonant, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered, Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve, Gears of War: E-Day, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, and many more. Even as somebody who absolutely loves 2D platformers, I'd have had a hard time justifying putting my time into Rayman given that competition.

Ubisoft's statement suggests that the game's delay is more about polish than avoiding the competition, and it's now one of very few games willing to brave the post-GTA 6 weeks of 2026. Who knows – maybe the adventures of Rayman and the crew will be just the palette cleanser we all need in between whatever shenanigans we're getting up to with Jason and Lucia.

Rayman Legends Retold has me struggling to justify its place as a remake, but with platforming this good I can't complain.

Good Smile Company is getting in on the Crash Bandicoot 30th Anniversary festivities by re-releasing his cute and chibi Nendoroid figure, and my inner '90s kid is frothing at the mouth.

The $53.99 (via Good Smile Company) toy features Crash in all his orange-colored, jeans-wearing glory, and like the rest of the Nendoroid line-up, it includes swappable parts so you can recreate your favorite scenes and poses. You've got extra arms, and even a spare eye and tongue to play around with, but most importantly, Good Smile made sure to include Crash's iconic pal, Aku Aku.

Aku Aku does not make the iconic "ooga-booga" sound when you slap him on Crash's face, but he still looks absolutely adorable in Nendoroid form. Just beware that if you want him, and a little posable Crash to keep amongst the best Crash Bandicoot merch in your collection, the pre-order window closes on October 20 next month.

I don't know about you, but as someone who remembers clutching the original gray PlayStation controller in their hand and looking longingly at the screen as Crash typhooned his way through crates and skunks, I feel like I'm turning into a pile of dust acknowledging his 30th anniversary. Yet this re-release of the incredibly detailed figure is giving me reason to stay on earth and not disappear off into the wind.

Sculpter toytec D.T.C has really outdone themselves with this toy, as Crash looks like he jumped straight out of Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time. While I would have preferred if they took more inspiration from the original PS1 games, the details are glorious. From the 3D tufts of hair on Crash's arms to the markings on his gloves, this is probably one of the best depictions I've seen of the iconic game mascot in toy form.

Of course, what makes any Nendoroid special is not just how adorable these chibi-inspired toys look, but what you can do with them. As I mentioned earlier, you can attach Aku Aku to Crash's face just like in the game series. While that doesn't grant this toy a short stint of invincibility, as a neat detail, the figure includes an additional stand so you can pose the sentient mask next to Crash instead.

That detail alone is what has me hammering to pre-order this Nendoroid while I still can. Aku Aku was such a prominent part of my PlayStation-playing childhood, and I love that Good Smile thought to allow you to pose him on or alongside Crash. Again, the only thing that'd make it sweeter would be if Good Smile packaged in a polygonal version of the iconic sidekick, but maybe we'll get a PS1-looking Crash toy in the future.

If you want a little articulated Crash Bandicoot for yourself, you can pre-order him now from the US or UK Good Smile Company online stores. Just be warned that while the pre-order window closes on October 20, he won't arrive at your door until between April 1 to June 30, 2027. It's a long time to wait, but the pure, nostalgia-fueled detail on display should make it worth it.

• View all Good Smile Company Nendoroid toys at Amazon

For more cool collectibles, check out the best Lego sets.

Would you believe Crash Bandicoot has left his 20s? The series celebrates its 30th birthday this week, and every mainline release is still available to play on modern consoles. While the Bandicoot starts noticing the physical effects of those tornado spins and body slams, then, we can relive the glory days with all four central releases.

Not only that, but you bet there's a whole host of gadgets and gizmos designed to accompany you on this platforming odyssey. From socks to official artbooks, that ginger face pops up a lot more than you might assume. Whether you jumped in with It's About Time or you've seen the final levels of Crash Bash, there's plenty to jump into here.

Naughty Dog's Crash Bandicoot launched in North America and Europe in 1996, hitting the original PlayStation with a flourish. Crash went on to become the brand's mascot character for the rest of the 90s and well into the 2000s. In all that time, there have only been four numbered entries in the franchise, but that's not counting some series highlights; Wrath of Cortex, Warped, and Crash Team Racing.

Crash Bandicoot games

Crash Bandicoot accessories

We're also rounding up the best Legend of Zelda merch as well as the best Mario merch and Resident Evil merch for more memories.

We'll be back gallivanting with our favorite dragon early next year when Spyro: A Realm Beyond comes out. To celebrate the character's anniversary this year, we've gotten a little tease of what's coming.

Toys For Bob is handling the game, having previously worked on Spyro Reignited Trilogy and Crash 4. Since the namesake scaly mascot first arrived in the US on September 9, the studio decided that day would be a solid choice for another snippet of his upcoming return.

Sadly, there's no new trailer yet, but we do get a better look at one of the areas, Arcadian Vale, a lush blend of old crumbling ruins, hills, and rivers. There are two pieces of concept art provided: one showing the landscape more broadly, and the other depicting a point of interest sitting on a cliff.

They tease the kind of place you'll spend a while just hopping around, having fun, picking up gems, and taking out enemies. "Arcadian Vale captures the charm and wonder that defines Spyro’s new adventure," reads the description.

"Made up of a calm, serene atmosphere, Arcadian Vale is a vibrant landscape filled with natural beauty," the studio continues. "Across the scene are cascading waterfalls tumbling down from towering cliffs. Ancient stone structures and weathered monuments rise from the terrain while lush greenery blankets the valley floor, creating a destination that feels magical and alive."

Sounds delightful, and exactly what I'm looking for from a new Spyro sequel. This is his first full new game since The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon in 2008. That's almost 20 years ago! Hopefully this can live up to the wait - going by what we see here, I'd say so.

Physint goes from PlayStation to Xbox as Sony "unexpectedly" drops Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid spiritual successor

In a surprising – yet very welcome – move, Ubisoft is opting to trade in its required launcher on PC for more seamless, built-in connectivity that allows players to navigate games through Steam… and Steam only.

It's a tale as old as time: a company outside of Valve requires players to use its own launcher, even if they're accessing a game through Steam. EA immediately springs to mind, as does Ubisoft, but the latter is apparently looking to scrap this pesky system in favor of a smoother experience for fans who don't appreciate a billion log-ins and pop-ups.

It reveals as much in some minor new patch notes for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown over on Steam.

"Introducing Ubisoft Connect Services," Ubisoft's announcement begins, dubbing the new integration "a simpler launch experience on Steam" – which, yeah, it certainly sounds like it is.

"Starting with Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, we are testing a new Ubisoft Connect Services Steam tool that keeps Ubisoft game features such as cross-progression, cross-play, player safety, challenges and rewards, among others."

What's new, though? Well, it's all "without requiring the Ubisoft Connect PC launcher to be installed or launched."

As Ubisoft says, "This first version is an initial step toward a smoother and more streamlined launch experience on Steam. We will continue to iterate and improve Ubisoft Connect Services over time, with the goal of delivering the features and services players use and expect while making the Steam experience as seamless as possible."

It won't stop with Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, either. "Ubisoft Connect Services will progressively evolve and roll out to more Ubisoft games on Steam in the future." That's quite exciting, to say the least, seeing as pretty much nobody would prefer the current system.

Over on Reddit, folks are discussing the new system, and, yeah, they're thrilled. "Imagine how much they had to lose to admit this was needed," reads the top comment.

"Finally," another exclaims. "Now add this for all previous titles, and I will buy Ubisoft games again!" And, thankfully, it sounds like that's precisely what Ubisoft plans to do… and hopefully carries onto new games down the line as well.

Xbox disc-to-digital missing Elden Ring and Final Fantasy as publishers including Bandai Namco, Square Enix, Ubisoft, and Sega seemingly skip the feature.

Today's Nintendo Direct showcase gave us a sneak peek at some exciting new games underway for the Switch 2, including none other than Kirby and the World Beyond.

It looks like a stunning little entry to Nintendo's 34-year-old series, standing as its second 3D entry after Kirby and the Forgotten Land – a title that itself launched a few years back in 2022 for the original Switch console.

Not only is it as visually vibrant and cozy as you'd expect a Kirby title to be (especially a 3D one after Forgotten Land's colorful debut), but Kirby and the World Beyond is also seemingly an open-world game. As per its trailer, it allows players to "freely explore" – so, yeah... I'm thinking it is indeed an open-world Kirby experience.

If so, it'll be the first of its kind. Sure, Kirby and the Forgotten Land had "open" areas that definitely felt more free than those in past platformers, but this would take it up a notch... and then some. And the gameplay? It looks as adorably action-packed as always, with inspired 'fit swaps for Kirby and more.

There's not too long left to wait to experience it, either. Kirby and the World Beyond is set to release sometime in the spring of 2027, which is just months away now (yes, time is passing that quickly). After all, the end of 2026 is approaching.

You can pre-order Kirby and the World Beyond now over on the Nintendo Store – if you can get through the Ocarina of Time remake queue, that is.

Searching for more to look forward to? Browse through our quick roundup of the best upcoming Switch 2 games arriving this year and beyond to wishlist.

Mario Kart World is getting yet another free content update today, this time adding our first batch of new tracks.

Specifically, courses from Super Mario Kart are being added to the VS Race mode. We see SNES Choco Island 1 and Choco Island 2 now available as options under the standard Choco Mountain track, for example. Vanilla Lake and Ghost Valley are also coming, amongst others, for a total of 10.

Another neat Super Mario Kart nod comes in the form of the ? Panels on the road, which you can drive over to get items.

In addition, two extra Knockout Tour routes are being added, named Propeller Rally and Turnip Rally. There's clearly still more to come, as footage from today's Nintendo Direct still shows four further routes hidden behind question marks, so the devs aren't done supporting the mode.

Although it wasn't mentioned in the Direct itself, Nintendo also states via a press release that a new Spectator Mode has been added for when you're playing with friends online or through LAN play, and now that I'm saying that out loud, I can't believe it wasn't an option from the start. Better late than never, though.

Honestly, though, it's the new tracks that make 1.8.0 Mario Kart World's best update yet. It was always going to be hard for the Switch 2 racer to compete with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which simply has so many more courses to race around, especially with all its DLC, and this thankfully gives World a bit of a boost in the right direction. Hopefully we can expect more in the future.

Be sure to keep up with our Nintendo Direct September 2026 live blog to see everything announced during the show.

Onimusha: Way of the Sword's director has explained some of the major inspirations behind the samurai action game, and let's just say, peak respects peak.

Speaking to FZ (via machine translation), Capcom's Satoru Nihei, director of Onimusha: Way of the Sword and Onimusha series producer Akihito Kadowaki were asked to choose one game which inspired their work on the game, and while I'm sure most would expect the director to say something like Sekiro or Ghost of Tsushima, Nihei explained that it was actually Super Mario Odyssey.

He explains that Mario is an action game that is very easy on the surface, but once you go deeper, it becomes more dynamic and challenging, which Nihei praises as something Nintendo, as a developer, excels at. He notes that every action in Mario Odyssey corresponds to a reaction to counter it, and that the way this affects Mario's controls was something Nihei focused on bringing to Onimusha's control scheme to enhance its tactical feel.

Kadowaki, on the other hand, after mentioning Silent Hill f – which you can somewhat feel in the world design – cites the Gundam series. He explains that, with the universe packed to the gills with charismatic characters, this is something Kadowaki aimed to bring to his work with Onimusha. And given how memorable and diverse the personalities of Musashi, Okuni, and Takamura are, I'd say you can definitely feel that shine through.

From a non-game-development perspective, I believe every game should look to something like Super Mario Odyssey for inspiration. Yes, the central game, challenges, and adventure are all brilliant, but Mario himself is what I actually mean. No game has aced how good it feels to have a character and simply move around in the world quite like it; the only exception is Donkey Kong Bananza, from the same development team.

Capcom left a surprise in new Monster Hunter Wilds Ascendance footage: fans spot the return of the series' most cursed creature.

Nintendo's surprise update for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on Switch 2 turned out to be a wrecking ball for the game's existing world records, implementing a sweeping speed increase that makes everyone – regardless of kart and racer – faster by a substantial measure.

As highlighted in a viral video being shared across social media in the wake of the update, Mario Kart 8 race, player speed has been increased across the board "by the equivalent of one coin," according to the official patch notes. In case you're unfamiliar, players pick up speed in Mario Kart 8 when they collect coins, with each coin adding an equal speed boost up until 10 coins, at which point full speed is reached. This update raises the baseline speed up to what was reached by collecting one point in previous versions of the game.

You might've glossed right over this change considering the surprisingly chunky Mario Kart 8 – yes, not Mario Kart World – update's other additions, which include "clearer" visuals, better load times, 5-8 player multiplayer support, and GameChat support. Essentially, the update brings Mario Kart 8 up to par with Mario Kart World in terms of Switch 2 compatibility, which is really a peculiar move from Nintendo considering Mario Kart World was the Switch 2's big launch title.

Anyway, as you might expect, Mario Kart 8 world record racers are scrambling to make sense of a world where every racer is suddenly considerably faster than before. Naturally, existing world records are just waiting to be smashed, and likely already have been at the time of writing. As one "friendly neighborhood Pokemon New Yorker" put it on Twitter, "RIP every MK8D World Record in the last 5 years."

You get the idea. To you and me, a marginal baseline speed increase might not seem like the Earth-shattering news that it is for Mario Kart speedracers, but if you're rightfully proud of clearing a map faster than literally anyone else in the world, well, if you're a glass-half-full type of person, you could see this as an opportunity to prove your drifting precision and red turtle shell dodging abilities to the internet once more. We live in a post-4.0 Mario Kart world (not that Mario Kart World) now, so you better keep up.

Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto never wanted to compete with other game devs: "I view the Rubik's Cube as my eternal rival"

Banjo-Kazooie composer Grant Kirkhope says he'd still love to work on the series, but pitches for its return have been turned down over the years.

Banjo-Kazooie is probably the game series with the biggest being dead to huge fanbase ratio (that or Mother). It's coming up on two decades since Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, which divided fans for not being a platformer despite being a great game in its own right. So, for most, it's been closer to 25 years since the last Banjo-Kazooie game, and despite appearances in Super Smash Bros. and re-releases of the original games, it doesn't look like there's much going on with the series.

Speaking to FRVR, Kirkhope reckons the chances of a return are higher than they've been in some time, saying "I used to always say there's zero chance of another Banjo-Kazooie game and right now I feel there's a slight chance." And that if such a game were to happen, he'd "absolutely" want to be involved in it. Kirkhope previously returned to create a new arrangement of his music for the duo's Smash Bros. appearance in 2019.

Kirkhope notes that the lack of a new Banjo isn't down to a lack of interest, at least outside of Rare itself. He explains that he knows of "like three companies" that have pitched to either Microsoft or Rare "about making another Banjo-Kazooie game, and I don't think anyone was successful." Kirkhope claims "Rare just typically say no to everything," saying that the likes of cartoons were rejected by the company over the years.

As for who could make a new Banjo game, Kirkhope says "Rare would never do it because they're too busy," but reckons the developers of Bradley the Badger – which he is composing the music for – Day 4 Night Studios, would be a good fit for the job. Spyro developer Toys For Bob is also reportedly interested in taking on the franchise, however it is currently working on Spyro: A Realm Beyond.

New Banjo-Kazooie releases are "native ports," so devs could add cut content and "bonus features" to the N64 classics.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Nintendo's upgraded take on the 2014 Wii U game, just got a new update for the Switch 2… while Mario Kart World, its more recent entry in the racing game series, sits stagnant.

As per Nintendo's official patch notes, Version 4.0.0 is here for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe with plenty for Switch 2 players to look forward to.

First and foremost are "clearer visuals," as the update finally adds "support for the Nintendo Switch 2 display and high-resolution TVs" – something I've personally been looking forward to since I upgraded to a 4K television myself. There are some nice performance tweaks, too.

The new version has "shortened the loading time before races and battles begin," as Nintendo writes, and "added CameraPlay support" for all you GameChat enjoyers.

That's not all, though – Mario Kart 8 Deluxe supports five to eight players in multiplayer mode now, allowing folks to connect with up to seven Nintendo Switch controllers on their Switch 2. In other words, prepare for downright chaos with your pals.

There are some other changes as well, as Nintendo has "increased player speed during races by the equivalent of one coin" and made it so that "players will not slow down while using Boo to become invisible, even when entering an offroad area."

People with access to the $24.99 Booster Course Pass will also see "96 Races" in the "VS Race" rule settings now, too. All in all, it's a pretty nice little Mario Kart 8 update, if you ask me.

What about Mario Kart World? Well, it did get two new Knockout Tour routes at the start of July, but it still undeniably feels unfinished when compared to its predecessor – an entry that's increasingly beginning to feel like Nintendo's favorite child.

Who knows, though… we might see a new Mario Kart World update surface for Switch 2 stans soon, even if Mario Kart 8 has historically outsold its successor (because, let's face it, it's the series GOAT).

The "greatest speedrun accomplishment of all time" is in sight as two legendary Super Mario Bros runners compete for a time that once seemed impossible.

Despite its self-aggrandizing name, Lego The Mighty Bowser isn't overexaggerating; it really is an impressive monster of a kit. Actually, I'd go so far as to say it's one of the best Lego sets ever made.

Or at least, it was. This behemoth has now been retired, which means it's becoming harder to get hold of now that Lego has stopped producing it. In fact, it'll only be available so long as stock lasts at third-party retailers like Amazon. Because Lego The Mighty Bowser is one of my all-time favorite models, consider this a plea – if you love Super Mario, consider this set before it vanishes into the ether forever.

Lego The Mighty Bowser (#71411) features

This enormous figure is easily the most detailed and accurate Lego version of Bowser available… and that includes the new Lego Super Mario range. Although it's not to-scale with the interactive Mario figures, it should sit nicely alongside the Mario Kart set as well as the Lego Luigi and Mach 8 kit. They seem roughly the same size.

In terms of what this model can do, it isn't just a pretty face; its head, arms, hands, fingers, mouth, eyebrows, and eyes can all be moved for some quite distinct poses. Lego The Mighty Bowser also shoots a fire bolt from his mouth at the push of a button.

Build

Despite the size and apparent complexity of Lego The Mighty Bowser, I generally found it to be a straightforward project. It doesn't have many small fiddly bits, and the build develops in a very logical way. I was able to make quick progress as a result; it only took me around five hours to finish across a few evenings. I suspect it could last up to 10 hours if you're not as experienced with building Lego, but it's not a mammoth project like Lego Rivendell.

However, I do have a bone to pick with designers here. The instructions don't put the usual lines around pieces you're supposed to be adding, which makes seeing what to do next a (very frustrating) game of spot the difference. I missed certain pieces as a result, and had to go back a step when things weren't adding up.

Design

This is the most impressive figure in the Lego Super Mario range, no questions asked. Sure, the Mario Kart figures are great and the old question block is soaked in nostalgia. The Lego Piranha Plant is full of character, too. But none compare to The Mighty Bowser. It's the sort of set that'll elicit a "woah" when seen in person, and is a dead ringer for its on-screen inspiration.

The fact it's so posable gives it a real sense of life, too; it's easy to personalize how Bowser looks on the shelf, and those moving eyes (a rarity for Lego figures) really help with that expressive nature.

Because it's so sturdy, you won't have any trouble adjusting it on the fly either. Sure, it won't stand up to rigorous play from younger fans and is most definitely a display-only kit. But it's far more robust than other models of this kind, such as Lego Optimus Prime.

Finally, I adore that the themed base feels like a slice of Bowser's castle. It melts into the background compared to the King Koopa himself, but brings back memories of those boss battles if you look closer. The stone 'cracking' under Bowser's weight is a particularly nice touch.

Should you buy Lego The Mighty Bowser?

Because this kit is going to the Mushroom Kingdom in the sky and will become increasingly difficult to find, I'd recommend grabbing it sooner than later if you were at all interested. While it's possible we'll get a new and improved version down the line, that's far from guaranteed.

So long as you can find it at a reasonable price, I think it's pretty great value too. There's nothing else like it in Lego's repertoire, and even though issues with instruction clarity let it down, everything else shines.

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

For more collectible recommendations, don't miss the best Super Mario merch or our guide to the best toys.

We just got our first look at the new Lego Super Mario range, and it turns out that the toy-maker isn't just adding minifigures to the lineup in early 2027; this appears to be a top-to-bottom overhaul.

Unveiled via the Lego store and GamesCom 2026's show floor after being teased back in March, these kits range from small models featuring just a few characters to massive sets that are several hundred pieces strong. Besides nodding to iconic pieces of Mario history (including a Mario Kart selection, Bowser's Castle, and the obligatory warp pipes), all kits include the stars of this new Lego Super Mario range – minifigures. Before now, you could only get larger interactive toys and display pieces like Lego Luigi & Mach 8. By contrast, the new kits are classic minifigures and feature in playsets using standard Lego bricks.

This new range is set to launch on January 1, 2027. Here's a full rundown on what's going to be available next year:

Honestly, I'm impressed with what we have so far. These kits pack a lot of charm, and crucially, they can be mixed with other Lego playsets due to their standard size. (This wasn't possible before due to how big the interactive figures were.)

The question is, what does this mean for those interactive figures going forward? Lego hasn't elaborated on whether the new minifigure sets will run alongside or replace them entirely. However, I think it's interesting to note how the new Lego Super Mario sets recreate some existing models – namely the Mario Kart range and Bowser's Castle. Because these seem a lot less expensive, don't require the fuss of batteries, and match the size of other Lego kits, they're certainly appealing as an alternative.

I would be sad to see the back of the interactive Mario range because it allows kids to create elaborate courses their figures actually react to (in terms of pure interactivity, they're some of the best Lego sets). But I also think these 'traditional' minifigure playsets are long overdue.

If this is the future of the Super Mario line, I'm not mad about it.

It'll be interesting to see what the community does with this new range – it's incredibly creative, as demonstrated by one builder using a Lego pumpkin set to make a Millennium Falcon.

• Check the current Lego Super Mario range at Amazon

Amid all of the GTA 6 leak shenanigans and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake rumors coming to fruition, word has been circulating online about another series potentially getting a new entry: the beloved Ori games.

If you're not familiar with Ori and the Blind Forest or Ori and the Will of the Wisp, they're charming Metroidvanias developed by Moon Game Studios – but published by Microsoft Studios and Xbox Game Studios, respectively. In other words, Microsoft essentially owns the rights to the IP rather than Moon Game Studios.

So, when rumors about another Ori game started coming to light, folks thought it'd be handled by new devs.

According to Thomas Mahler, CEO of Moon Game Studios and director behind both Ori games, however, that's not the case – and, in fact, there is supposedly no Ori 3 in the works anywhere.

"Once again there's a bunch of people asking me about Ori 3 since there's rumors floating about," as he writes over on X. "As before, I haven't heard anything about any of this." He then explains why he believes only his studio could pull a threequel off.

"I think after having put billions into 343 to handle Halo and not being able to recapture the old magic, I'd guess that by now Microsoft has learned their lesson that the right talent needs to work on those IP's, otherwise you'll undoubtedly get more slop," the lead states, alluding to the more mixed reviews Halo entries headed by 343 Industries saw, like Halo 4.

What Mahler says next about Moon Game Studios' own plans is quite eye-catching, though.

"Internally, we've been discussing our interest in purchasing the IP back," the CEO describes, because "I doubt any other studio could really do much with it, so it makes sense for this one to come home to Moon!"

In a later post, he reiterates all of this, writing, "I can confirm that the Ori 3 rumors are nonsense" and stating that composer Gareth Coker "asked me if we'd be ready to do another one" – another Ori game, that is. "'It's time,' he said!"

So, there you have it – there might not be a new Ori in the works after all. It's important to note that Xbox could still have something up its sleeve, as there's no real way to tell – but that may truly just be wishful thinking at this point, considering everything.

Searching for some new games to play? Browse through our handy little roundup of the best Metroidvania games out there right now.

A new game in the Ori series is rumored to be in production at Xbox, according to the same prominent leaker who spilled the tea on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's Switch 2 remake.

Ori and the Blind Forest and Ori and the Will of the Wisps are some of the best Metroidvania games around - they're drop dead gorgeous, brutally tough but always totally fair, and occasionally sad enough to make a Pixar third act climax feel quite cozy, in comparison.

That's why I'm trying not to raise my hopes too high after comments made by prominent insider NateTheHate, who recently said a "new Ori" is in the works. In the past week, he's dropped hints about Xbox potentially working on a sequel to one of its modern franchises in collaboration with a developer you might not expect.

Series creator Moon Studios is currently all hands on deck for No Rest for the Wicked, an ARPG that's leaving early access on PC and PS5 this October. Not only is the developer pre-occupied with another project, reports once suggested the studio's "oppressive workplace" led to its relationship with Xbox fizzling out, so you can probably expect an outside developer to jump aboard for a potential third Ori game.

NateTheHate also says he's not sure if the project will debut at next week's Gamescom Opening Night Live show or sometime after. Previously, the insider accurately let the internet know that a new Star Fox game and an Ocarina of Time remake were in the works weeks before Nintendo said anything official about either. Even before that, he was a somewhat trusted source within the Nintendo fandom - add in the fact that Ori and the Blind Forest sold over 10 million copies, and the prospect of a third adventure seems ever more likely.

Ori boss shares "one of the crazier ideas" for a possible third game that would flip the Metroidvania on its head: "Think Katamari, but with a Ghibli-twist"

Evercade has just come out with a new physical release combining both Banjo-Kazooie platformers, but the retro handheld maker didn't rely on emulation for its new double pack. The Banjo-Kazooie re-releases are "brand new native ports" because Evercade wanted to retroactively add cut content and features to the classic platformers.

In a new video diving deep into the Banjo-Kazooie Double Pack, developer Pete Davison says the N64 gems have been "rebuilt from the ground up" for Evercade's suite of best retro consoles. "We didn't want to tamper with the core nature of these games too much, but developing brand new native ports rather than emulating the original 64-bit versions has allowed us to introduce quality-of-life features that make playing them much more comfortable and enjoyable from a modern gamer's perspective," he explains.

One of the new features is a tip-toe button that lets Banjo take slower, more careful steps without the player having to lightly graze an analogue stick - handy if you're playing on one of Evercade's smaller handhelds. Similarly, camera movement can be shifted to the shoulder buttons or you can simply have the camera follow Banjo automatically rather than wrestle with it as you would on the N64.

Other quality-of-life highlights include the ability to skip cutscenes, an overhauled options menu, a fine aim mode for Banjo-Tooie's first-person sections, inverted camera toggles, and the option to return to the hub world from anywhere in the game. "This is a cut feature from the original release that we have restored," apparently.

"We've also added new unlockable bonus features and secrets. You'll have to work hard to get them as you'll need to acquire some secret items which were normally inaccessible in the original game," the port makers explain.

Bear in mind, this is entirely separate from the Super Pocket Rare Edition handheld that bundled in 30 games from legendary developer Rare's catalogue, including the Banjo games and a Conker's Bad Fur Day prequel that was trapped on the Game Boy for literal decades. Very cool company, indeed.

We asked Xbox exec Matt Booty about legacy IP like Banjo-Kazooie: "There's options to do all kinds of things, and we're certainly looking at those all the time"

Months after Ubisoft cancelled the remake of the PS2 classic, GOG has released an enhanced version of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

One of the weirdest projects of the decade has been Ubisoft's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Announced in 2020, the project was scheduled to release in January 2021 developed by Ubisoft Mumbai and Ubisoft Pune, but after delays the game was subject to a complete development reboot in 2023 at Ubisoft Montreal, and as recently as last year, Ubisoft was saying it'd release this year, with rumors of a shadowdrop appearing. However, it was cancelled amid a "major reset" in January bringing its development hell to an end.

When the cancellation happened, GOG confirmed that it was working to bring the original version of the classic action game to its GOG Preservation Program as soon as possible. At the time, the post on Twitter said "We are pouring our hearts into making sure the original Sands of Time does not just run fine. We will make sure it is the best version you have ever played," and now seven months later we know what that entails.

Earlier today the GOG Classics Vault YouTube channel released a video confirming that its release of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is out now, and detailed some of the changes included in this release. Improvements include fixing modern hardware incompatibilities, widescreen and ultrawide support for modern resolutions and aspect ratios and the ability to limit your FPS and a setting to automatically your FOV based on aspect ratio. In the video GOG's Adim explains "Ubisoft's remake was officially cancelled, so we took the matters into our own hands" and adds, "It is a masterpiece game design and it deserves to be played as intended."

OG Assassin's Creed Black Flag devs "had a lot of teething difficulties" trying to nail down the "seamless naval experience."

As Disney looks to revive Oswald the Lucky Rabbit for an upcoming Disney Plus series, Epic Mickey director Warren Spector commented on the game's role in bringing the character back.

At the latest D23 event – amid all of the Marvel and Star Wars announcements and Kingdom Hearts 4 news – Jon Favreau introduced a first look at his upcoming Disney Plus animation and live action series Oswald. This features Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, who was created by Walt Disney before Mickey Mouse. Disney was unable to use the character for decades, as he was owned by Universal, but in 2006 then-Disney president Bob Iger spearheaded an effort to bring him back into the fold for a video game.

That's Oswald video game project that would become Epic Mickey, which was led by Warren Spector – a developer best known for legendary immersive sims like Deus Ex and Thief.

Spector posted about the Oswald series' new reveal on LinkedIn, saying "I’m seriously looking forward to it but it seems as if people are looking at it as the debut of the character. Call me small-minded but that ain’t right." Spector explains that with Epic Mickey, "the team at Junction Point featured Oswald in his first Disney role since 1928," adding that 2012's Epic Mickey 2 "was the first time he ever spoke in a Disney story." He also notes that "we gave Ortensia her name, her voice, her personality and her role as Oswald’s paramour. None of that dates back to Disney."

"I have to admit that I’m a little bitter about the lack of credit the team gets for all this," Spector adds, explaining, "I was blown away that Disney trusted us and saw fit to reintroduce the little guy in a game. But the team did a great job and deserves to be recognized for it before Hollywood makes people forget the games ever existed."

The series will reportedly feature a plot similar to Epic Mickey, in which Oswald realises he'd been replaced by Mickey while he remained forgotten for so many years. This time around, it features Oswald in the real world, as opposed to Mickey ending up in Oswald's world. Perhaps the developers will get their due in the full series, but how rarely comic creators have gotten their dues in the credits of MCU movies, I could easily see this pivotal part of Oswald's history remain unmentioned.

Kingdom Hearts 4 hype sees the series' first collection top Steam's sales chart, becoming the best-selling paid game on the store following a big discount

Over the past few years, a speedrun accomplishment that once seemed impossible is starting to look inevitable: a perfect run of Super Mario Bros. is in sight. Two speedrun legends are inching ever closer to that fabled goal, and a new world record is the first step in what might be the biggest accomplishment in speedrunning history.

If you've ever checked in on the Super Mario Bros. speedrun scene, you know the basics, but here's some background just in case. In extremely simplified terms, the classic NES platformer only checks every so often to see if a given level is completed, which means there is an absolute minimum time in which you can complete each stage. Tool-assisted speedruns (or TASes), which are created by programming inputs into emulators, show us that the perfect Super Mario Bros. speedrun would be a time of 4:54.265.

In most cases, TASes do things that are impossible for human players – but top Super Mario Bros. players have been making the "impossible" seem real. We've been covering a runner called Niftski for years as he's shaved the world record down ever closer to that theoretical perfect time. Even in 2023, we were no longer talking about the difference between human performance and machine-engineered perfection in terms of seconds. Instead, the difference was measured in frames.

Back then, it was 22 frames. Now, it's just 4. Niftski has set a new world record of 4:54.332, which you can see in the video below. It's worth watching the final moments alone, where Niftski pops off and shouts out his "W mom cheering me downstairs."

Runners have already perfected each individual part of the game, but the problem is stringing it all together. The final stage, 8-4, is not governed by the same rule that sets the minimum possible time for the earlier stages. This one is loaded with tricks that require button inputs timed down to the individual frame, and many of them have to be done back-to-back.

But now, "we are now only 4 frames / 0.06 seconds away from No L+R TAS tie, and it is completely inevitable at this point," Niftski explains in the description of his world record video. "As proud as I am to finally achieve my well overdue 4:54.3xx, I will make sure to not stop this grind until I put this category to rest with the perfect SMB1 Any% speedrun of 4:54.265."

Niftski has committed to the grind, and he's not alone. Another runner named LeKukie tied Niftski's previous record, and he's also set himself on the grind to get the perfect run. He learned how to speedrun Super Mario Bros. using a homebrew emulator for PS2 that was plagued by input lag, unable to afford better equipment. He eventually got an NES, but it was one made in his home country of Brazil – a model which, it happens, runs a tiny bit slower than its worldwide counterparts.

LeKukie was a dedicated runner, still managing to post great times even with the limitations to his hardware. And with each upgrade, it was as if he was dropping another layer of training weights, like he was the Goku of Mario runners. His full story is wild, and it's explained very well in a recent video by Kosmic. The community eventually decided to "free LeKukie," pitching in to provide him an NES that ran at full speed, as well as equipment for streaming. Among the donors? Niftski himself.

Now LeKukie is a legitimate contender for that perfect run, and he's inching closer right alongside Niftski. Either of these runners could be the one to do it, and it'll be a massive milestone once it finally happens. SummoningSalt, who you might know from his excellent YouTube documentaries on various speedrunning scenes, puts it simply in a tweet: "This will be the greatest speedrun accomplishment of all time."

These are the best Mario games of all time.

In the beginning, there was N. Not that the minimalist platformer was the world's first indie game or anything, but its history mirrors that of the entire scene – first a browser game in 2004, thrust into a wider spotlight thanks to burgeoning digital distribution on consoles, and now it's got a small but dedicated following on Steam, constantly working to improve their scores and work their way up the leaderboards.

That most recent version, N++, was meant to be the last. But for creators Mare Sheppard and Raigan Burns – the dev duo who have been working together under the name Metanet Software for well over 20 years – the idea of becoming perfect describes more than the joy of guiding the game's little ninjas through the infinite deathtraps that the levels present.

"One aspect of the game is about perfectionism – not on purpose," Burns tells me. "That is maybe an aspect of both of our personalities. The whole idea of 'just one more try' that permeates the gameplay does seem [like it's] fractal. The development of the game is kind of like that. When we put out N++, we really didn't think we would ever come back to it, and the thing is, we still don't think we could really improve on it."

"When we made N++," Sheppard adds, "we thought, 'This is the last one. We're not doing this again. We don't need to. We've done it. Good job. Great.' But then this one surprised us."

To the Nth degree

"This one" is N Plus Infinity Times Two, which takes the vestigial multiplayer elements designed for the previous games and expands them out into a party-first platformer. I played several rounds back at Summer Game Fest in June, and it's an absolute blast, but there's something beyond the game itself that fascinated me.

If you haven't played N, it may be best described as a sort of Super Mario Bros. for self-professed sickos. It's a minimalist 2D platformer that's all about momentum and air control, where you have to build up speed to launch yourself over gaps and then carefully control your fall, sliding down walls to slow your speed before you explode against the floor. This kind of nuance is what makes the game such a compelling single-player challenge. It's also, as it turns out, a perfect vessel for multiplayer, and that pivot has been gestating for a very long time.

Sheppard and Burns have been working on indie games since before there was a realistic way to make money from them. Alongside N itself, they've been through the Xbox Live Arcade boom, the rise of Steam, and the ongoing threat of "indiepocalypse," where so many games are being released every day that even the most voracious gamers are struggling to keep up. I've been watching this all happen through the years as a player and a writer. But what does it look like to developers going through it all?

"From a certain perspective, nothing has changed," Burns argues. "Video games have always been about a small team of sickos doing something. From the day of the MIT model railroad club who made Spacewar, arguably the first video game, to id Software, to all the 8-bit bedroom programmers in the '80s. Even the first Super Mario Bros. was made by four people." In that sense, he adds, indie development is about approaching making games "the way that a band approaches making music," with "a tiny little group in a room, all kind of riffing off of each other."

N in particular is "such a minimal game," Sheppard says. "It's quite simple, really. There aren't that many buttons, but there's so much possibility in the gameplay itself. If you expand that concept to the series as a whole, we keep finding things that make us think about how the game works or how it plays in different ways that are still exciting. Especially after 20 years of doing this, it's very surprising and delightful to us that that keeps happening."

"It's just like picking up a guitar and jamming," as Burns describes it.

You can see the benefits of that sort of experimentation in N Plus Infinity Times Two's race mode, where you rush to the end of a level alongside other players. You can try to be the first to the end, gathering points for a fast clear and taking the opportunity to transform into a rocket and interfere with the other players still competing. Or you can try to gather gold for bonus points, simultaneously denying your competitors the opportunity to do the same.

Team tag really puts your control to the test, as you and a partner avoid getting stomped by the opposing team of invincible hunters, equipped with that rocket transformation power to hunt you down. You survive as long as you can, then swap sides and try to stop them from beating your time. It's playful, experimental, and fun – and both modes are great examples of the kinds of ideas developers can build after working on a singular foundation for so many years.

"Playtesting lately has been a joy, and it hasn't always been that way throughout development," Sheppard says. "Our guts are telling us, 'okay, we've arrived at a place that we're happy with'. We think this is fun, and we think because of that it's likely that other people will like it too. That's how it's worked in the past."

For the sickos

But while indie's glorious "sickos" are still doing their thing, Burns admits that "every other aspect" of the scene has "radically transformed".

Burns and Sheppard developed an interest in the burgeoning indie development scene thanks to websites like Home of the Underdogs and Game Hippo, where small games – and "abandonware" titles – were offered for free. And, helpfully, these games would actually run on the aging computers they were using at the time. The pair would also stay in touch with other indie developers thanks to sites like TIGSource.

These sorts of small, dedicated communities slowly evaporated alongside the rise of social media, which has been a double-edged sword for the indie scene. "We definitely are more in touch with our fan base now than any other time, except for maybe the late '00s when we had an N community message board," Burns says. "Discord is really great, but it's insular. It's like everything else, a bunch of walled gardens, and it doesn't help. That's good for the community of hardcore and enthusiasts, but for indie game developers in general, we really miss that sense of a shared mission, the sense of camaraderie and support and learning from each other that existed in the mid '00s."

Meanwhile, the number of games being released on Steam every year has increased exponentially. I'll readily say that many of those releases are bottom-of-the-barrel nonsense, but this explosion has also dramatically increased the number of great games coming out, too.

"Every year there are games being made that are unbelievable – just the best stuff ever, right? So, in that sense, the culture is alive and well," says Burns. "[But] now it's very hard to make money, and it's turned into a winner-take-all. [...] It's like the top 10 games make all the money, and then everyone else goes broke."

The best of times

Metanet Software has managed to endure in part because of alternate methods of funding. "Our company absolutely would not exist without socialized venture capital programs that Canada has," Burns explains. N Plus Infinity Times Two is funded in part by the Canada Media Fund, and governmental support has helped Metanet going all the way back to the release of N+ on Xbox Live Arcade.

Burns describes the Canada Media Fund as "a federal thing that gives loans in exchange for a bit of [revenue] share to film, game, and TV projects." The studio has also benefited from provincial funding programs like Ontario Creates, and Burns says these sorts of efforts are part of "why Canada punches way above its weight" in the indie scene. These media funds have also helped build local events to help unite and galvanize indie devs – just as the old forums and online resources once did. "I'm definitely super proud of our country," Burns says.

But what about those developers around the world who don't have access to this sort of government support for their projects? Discussing the challenges facing indie devs on Steam, Burns offers a radical thought experiment: a world where Valve took 5% of the revenue of every game sold and redistributed it to every other developer on the platform. In essence, big moneymakers like Marvel Rivals and Apex Legends would be helping to fuel the smaller, more creative projects.

Of course, Burns isn't blind to the "social and political realities and problems with North American culture" that would render this kind of idea difficult to implement. "But basically," he argues, "the way things are is a choice that a few people who have immense power have chosen for things to be the way they are, presumably because it benefits them."

Or, as Burns puts it in more simple terms: "It's the best of times, it's the worst of times for indie games."

For now, Metanet has seemingly found its niche, though not without some soul searching. "We had a little bit of anxiety – or angst, maybe – about 'we've never released anything but the N series,'" Sheppard says. "That's changed, too. Now I think we're more comfortable with the fact that we actually really like this space. We like that we keep discovering things, exploring it, and finding new ways to express ourselves."

So while dreams of something entirely separate from N are still dancing in the minds of Sheppard and Burns, if N Plus Infinity Times Two finds its audience, the devs aren't opposed to continuing to update it with new content and further follow-ups. After all, there's already "a second game's worth of stuff that we've had to cut," Burns says, seemingly half-joking.

"Maybe by the time this one is shipped, we will truly be so sick of it [that] we won't ever have any desire" to continue with N, Burns says. After all, they felt that way when N++ launched in 2015. "We absolutely, with every fiber of our being, knew we would never, ever, ever want to deal with this series again, But then, 10 years later, we felt differently. Having gone through that once, we now understand, 'Okay, that is always a possibility.' Who knows what the world's going to be like in 10 years?"

Need more words to fill your weekend? Last week's Saturday Read was on Pathfinder and Warhammer 40K RPG developer Owlcat Games "speedrunning" its first 10 years

After there's been zero word on the next mainline Sonic the Hedgehog game, Sonic Team lead Takashi Iizuka says there are more surprises in store for the series 35th anniversary.

Sonic the Hedgehog is pretty constant as of late, whether it be remaster, spinoff or main series game, the series has effectively been a yearly release for a while now. However, it's been a while since the series' last 3D entry with 2022's Sonic Frontiers, and fans have been feverishly waiting for what's coming next for the series – especially in the wake of the fairly divisive Sonic Superstars in 2023. But aside from a second wave of DLC for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds and the collab game between Sonic and indie hit Pico Park, things have been quiet throughout Sonic's 35th anniversary year.

Speaking to Pocket Tactics, Iizuka was asked what we can expect from the series' anniversary celebrations. He responds "We want the 35th anniversary to recognize every part of Sonic's history while also looking ahead" in reference to the likes of Sonic in Concert, he adds, "Throughout the year, fans will see Sonic through games, music, events, collaborations, merchandise, and other special projects."

Iizuka then promises more surprises on top of what has already been announced, saying "other surprises will need to remain secret for a little longer. I know that Sonic fans are extremely observant, so I must be careful not to provide any unintended clues!" He adds "We hope there will be something that appeals to fans from every era."

Sega did tease what would become Frontiers at the end of a 30th anniversary stream, before it was fully revealed at The Game Awards 2021, so if Sega are set on revealing what's next for Sonic this year, maybe keep an eye on Keighley's show this year.

Sonic Team boss says the most memorable game he's ever worked on is Sonic Adventure 2, and he was "really delighted" its story was used for the third movie

Nintendo patron saint Shigeru Miyamoto created the Mario franchise, but he knows it would be nothing without the countless devs and designers who helped bring it to life. The original Super Mario Bros. platformer from 1985 would have especially suffered, Miyamoto thinks, had it been the responsibility of only one person.

Nintendo Everything shares an interview Miyamoto did with Japanese magazine Casa Brutus earlier this summer. The director reveals that many of the game's most beloved qualities came from simply bouncing ideas around in the office.

The B-dash, which lets you press B while Mario is sprinting to slip past gaps in terrain, is one example. The plumber with a mustache – the walrus 'stache that launched a thousand ships – wouldn't be able to perform "that small cheat," says Miyamoto, if it weren't for a collaborative discussion about game bugs.

"That was actually a bug caused by flawed collision detection with the ground," Miyamoto explains. "When the programmer noticed it, he said, 'Huh? He didn't fall!' and tried to fix it. But I said, 'No, no! It's fun if he can dash across – let's leave it as is!' [laughs]. So we kept it."

"There were tons of other fun techniques and hidden items born while developing Super Mario Bros.," Miyamoto continues. The bloated Cheep Cheep enemies, in particular, are an aspect of the platformer where, Miyamoto says, "I don't think I could have come up with it alone."

Designer Takashi Tezuka, who recently announced his retirement as Nintendo's executive officer, first thought of the bite-y pufferfish. "He was young then, and didn't yet have strong technical skills," says Miyamoto, "but he offered interesting ideas, like wanting to have a fish that suddenly leaps out and plops back down, that could both fly and swim."

"My younger colleague's idea had a certain appeal, and I wanted to accommodate it," says Miyamoto. So he decided to raise the floor's height in Super Mario Bros. to make it easier for Mario to dodge the Cheep Cheeps while retaining their status as pesky, red surprises.

"If Mario is running on the lowest level they’ll appear unexpectedly, but if he’s on a some- what higher platform, players can see the fish fly up. That's why World 2-3, where Cheep Cheeps appear, takes place on higher piers," Miyamoto explains.

"None of these things could have been done by one person alone. I believe it’s because we created it together, by discussion and argument as a team, that the game came about. I always want information to flow back and forth freely, so I even banned headphones in the office."

He continues, "Rather than divide work strictly by specialty, we all helped shape the whole game together, and the fun was in doing that. Even now, I still work with people from that team: the graphic artist I just cited, Mr. Tezuka, programmer Toshihiko Nakago, and composer Koji Kondo. I think that in itself is pretty amazing."

97 Super Mario Bros NES cartridges set to be "melted down" turn out to be a lot more valuable than the gold they contain.

Shigeru Miyamoto has revealed that one of the most integral parts of Mario's kit in the series' 2D games started out as an accident.

As much as Sonic is marketed as the fastest thing alive, and everyone's go-to when you think of speed in 2D platformers, it's easy to forget that the chubby Italian-American plumber from Brooklyn is weirdly fast too. And not just in the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games artwork – where Nintendo reportedly "demanded" Mario was a step in front of the blue blur – but he's able to speed through levels and even run over small gaps that are roughly the same size as him with no issue.

Turns out, his airwalking abilities weren't a part of the plan, as speaking to Casa Brutus magazine (via NintendoEverything), Miyamoto explains, "You know Mario’s B-Dash, right? If you hold the B button while running, he can cross small gaps without failing," he reveals, "Truth be told, that was actually a bug caused by flawed collision detection with the ground."

However, rather than purge the unintended power, Miyamoto recalls, "I said, 'No, no! It’s fun if he can dash across – let’s leave it as is!'" And now, 40 years later, Mario can still do the same in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and every other 2D platformer the series has to offer.

Miyamoto also noted that this wasn't the only unintended feature of Super Mario Bros., with the hidden blocks that have remained an iconic part of the series since its inception, beginning their life as a bug where coins would appear in midair when nothing was there.

This isn't even the biggest glitch-turned-feature story either. Some glitches became part of their series, like Hitman's homing briefcase or the myth about a hyper-aggressive Gandhi in Civilization, which led to him being nuke-happy in its fifth entry.

However, none are as massive as Street Fighter 2, which featured an unintentional behavior where players could hit an opponent while they were still stunned, leading to the birth of combos in fighting games. So really, if it's a glitch and it doesn't break the game too much, it may be worth leaving it alone if it's fun enough.

97 Super Mario Bros NES cartridges set to be "melted down" turn out to be a lot more valuable than the gold they contain

Big Hops, the extraordinarily cute indie platformer that released this year to widespread acclaim, now lets you hop, hop around with up to seven of your best amphibious friends.

In case you haven't heard of Big Hops, you probably should, because there's a lot of stressful, awful things happening in the world and, like, none of them are happening in Big Hops. No, instead of AI and layoffs and war, Big Hops is all about tip-toeing around carefully... just kidding!

Big Hops is about tongue-grappling and air-diving and being shot out of cannons while traversing mountains, sweeping deserts, and perilous oceans. That's right, you get what it says on the box with Big Hops. And now the title is even more accurate: Big Hops implies all of the hops, so many hops, and now that plural tense extends to your pals as well, as Big Hops 8-player co-op is in open beta on Steam.

There does seem to be one fairly major caveat to co-op Big Hops, in that it'll only be available on Steam at launch, leaving PS5 and Switch 2 players to bounce around by themselves, which seems a little unfair. Director Chris Wade tells Kotaku that's because it's "easier to focus" on just one platform.

Otherwise, Wade, under the banner of Luckshot Games, promises the full experience with Big Hops co-op. "Up to 8 players can play together through the whole game," reads a Steam update. "There are no concessions here, no single-player only content, no half baked version of the game you know and love. It's all there to play together."

Big Hops Together, as the co-op mode is called, will fully launch on Steam on August 9, but you can try out multiplayer now by installing Big Hops if you haven't already and launching the game via the public 'Together' branch.

Here are all of the upcoming indie games we can't wait to play.

It's the dream scenario for a retro collector: finding an overlooked box of games and cracking it open to discover something absolutely unprecedented. That's what happened for Jason Ganos, a self-described "Nintendo super fan," who found a box full of Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt cartridges for NES in pristine condition thanks to a friend at a local retro game shop. The best part? These 97 cartridges are likely from the game's final production run – an absurdly rare variant that had never previously been discovered.

Sometime in the '90s, the owner of a precious metal recovery business bought this box of Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt carts, and they were "supposed to be melted down and salvaged for the gold on the contacts of the pins," as Ganos writes on Nintendo Wire, the news site where he serves as editor-in-chief.

But that didn't happen. Instead, the box ended up sitting in the garage of the grandson of the salvage company owner for "for over 20 years." Kevin Braun, the owner of a small retro shop near Milwaukee, Wisconsin called OneStopWonders, bought the box of cartridges with the intent to "sell each game for roughly $10 to $15 apiece."

If you're like me, a lifelong gamer hovering somewhere in the 35- to 45-year-old range, you'll likely remember the Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt combo cartridges as being absolutely ubiquitous. They were packed in with many NES consoles, and the used market was absolutely awash with them. Even as the collector's market has dramatically inflated the value of other retro classics, Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt cartridges are still inexpensive and plentiful.

Pretty crazy stuff if you haven't seen it - a game store owner had a box of Super Mario/Duck Hunt carts that turned out to be- brand new- manufactured in 1993 (!)- an extremely late variant unknown to collectorsnintendowire.com/news/2026/07...

— @kohler.bsky.social (@kohler.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-07-31T15:55:36.985Z

So when Ganos, who worked with Braun to sell various games online, discovered this box sitting in the retro store owner's storage unit, he was primarily shocked because of the games' condition, not their rarity. These were effectively new carts, neatly wrapped up with crisp manuals alongside them. "Seeing brand-new Nintendo games is an incredibly exciting thing for a game collector," Ganos explains. "But seeing 97 of them all lined up, all of them pristine, nearly knocked me straight on my ass."

Ganos didn't realize the true value of his discovery until he started sharing photos of the games with members of a high-end collecting group. "What I had found wasn't just a box of pristine Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt cartridges. It was an undocumented, never before seen variant. The back label was unlike anything that had been documented before. Instead of the standard English-only text, it featured multiple languages. The manufacturing codes on both the cartridge and instruction manual also differed, indicating these games were produced in late 1993," Ganos says.

"Even the manual contained previously undocumented text. Known manuals include the phrase 'maintenance or repairs,' while this newly discovered version instead reads 'maintenance or service.' Perhaps most puzzling of all, the manufacturing dates on both the cartridge and manual come after every known Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt bundle these games could have belonged to."

The conclusion? "What we had found was the very last production run, and an undiscovered variant of Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt." Ganos soon personally flew the 97 cartridges out to be graded by PSA, which encased the carts in plastic with some being graded as a perfect 10.

We've seen rare, graded Super Mario Bros. carts sell for millions of dollars in the past, but exactly how much collectors will be willing to pay for these remains to be seen. Ganos and Braun intend to split the carts, "keeping an undecided number for ourselves. Some of the others will be auctioned off, and others will have charity auctions set up in the very near future." More specifically, the first three auctions will occur on August 12, so we'll know the true value of these games soon enough.

These are the best NES games of all time.

Despite the announcement of Super Mario Sunshine's return, some new Nintendo artwork has seemingly confirmed the demise of dear Toadsworth.

Super Mario Sunshine is launching on Nintendo Switch Online next month, Nintendo has confirmed. The title which one GamesRadar+ writer – me – has referred to as a game only cowards think is the worst Mario game also gave birth to one of the series most beloved side characters.

Toadsworth is a posh old Toad and assistant to Peach who joins her and Mario on their Isle Delfino vacation, and since then has become an iconic part of the Toad cast. And despite Toadette – who was introduced afterwards, and not even in a mainline game – becoming more and more prominent in the time since, Toadsworth has disappeared.

13 years… that's how long it's been since we last saw Toadsworth in an original Mario game, outside Smash Bros. cameos and remakes (and underwhelming remakes like Mario Party: The Top 100). Mario & Luigi Dream Team marked his last appearance, and it's fitting as he's only been a part of our dreams since then.

There's even an old Toad character in the movies who could've easily been the moustachioed one, but isn't. Even with the likes of Cataquack and Pianta appearing in spin-offs like Mario Kart World, one of Sunshine's biggest characters is nowhere to be seen.

And now, Nintendo's latest summer wallpaper has referenced an iconic bit of Super Mario Sunshine art, only with Toadsworth removed from the picture. And fans on the Mario subreddit have taken notice. A post titled "are we fucking serious nintendo" points out the missing Toad, garnering responses like "and then there's Toadsworth, he's dead…"

In fact, a few people have speculated that the old Toad has passed away. Some, however, have taken a slightly less grim outlook, saying, "He really is never showing up again."

Meanwhile, another points out an inclusion in the picture that makes things sting a bit more, "they included FLUDD but not Toadsworth," to which a response says "it really goes top[sic] show how much they care about Toadsworth sadly."

Others think his death could be a consequence to his deeds in previous games, with two users speculating that "he was executed" due to actions in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door or Mario Super Sluggers

Toadsworth is maybe a bit too important to be considered a Glup Shitto (I know no one asked, but my favourite Mario Glup Shitto is Strollin Stu, another Mario Sunshine banger), but it's a shame to see a fun character disappear for seemingly no reason. Will it cause me to boycott the next Mario? Of course not, but seeing his warm brown mushroom head again would be a welcome sight.

Super Mario Sunshine gets 10-player online co-op in mod that lets you tag-team the GameCube classic as Wario, Luigi, and Sonic.

Nintendo has confirmed that Super Mario Sunshine will be hitting Nintendo Switch Online for Switch 2 owners next month.

In a video released on the Nintendo Japan YouTube channel, Nintendo confirms that on August 13, Super Mario Sunshine will finally be available on Nintendo Switch Online for people who own a Switch 2 console and have the Expansion Pass version of the subscription.

From the looks of things, that sure is Super Mario Sunshine. Notably, the entire trailer was presented in 4:3, so it looks like the improvements made on the Super Mario 3D All-Stars version of the game are not included – meaning Switch 1 owners may technically be getting the better version of Sunshine anyway (if they can find a copy).

So, if you missed out on 3D All Stars, now you can finally play what cowards call the worst Mario game. Yes it's rushed, glitchy, and somewhat unfinished, but good lord if Super Mario Sunshine does not have the sauce. I'd recommend anyone playing it to just move around on some of the levels from the outset and get to grips with just how incredible Mario feels to control. Yes, the Galaxy games are masterpieces, but Sunshine's movement was the best of the franchise until Odyssey came along. The game itself is pretty good too, even if the lilypad and pachinko levels can do things to themselves that I'm not allowed to publish.

This announcement was presented with the "Super Mario Bros. 40th Anniversary" emblem, suggesting Nintendo isn't quite finished with celebrating it just yet, so perhaps some more Mario could show up in a future Nintendo Direct.

Nate The Hate – who has accurately leaked a number of Nintendo rumors for well over a year now – said the next 3D Super Mario game is planned for 2027 right now. And while not impossible for it to appear in the inevitable September Nintendo Direct, Nintendo's MO for the last few years has typically been announcing games when they're only a few months out – although Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, and Rhythm Heaven Groove have subverted that trend as of late.

Super Mario Sunshine gets 10-player online co-op in mod that lets you tag-team the GameCube classic as Wario, Luigi, and Sonic.

Nintendo veteran Shigeru Miyamoto, probably best known as the grandaddy of all things Mario, says he has no idea why the old fella is so appealing to players. While Miyamoto designed the jumping plumber alongside artist Yoichi Kotabe, he still doesn't understand why people find him so likeable.

Gaming giant Nintendo is well known for its adorable mascots like Pikachu, Kirby, and the ever pleasing Pikmin, but not all of its main characters are quite as friend shaped as these. Mario's rotund form is charming in its own way, but at its core, he's just a stout adult man with a fetching mustache.

In an interview with Famitsu, that's been translated by GamesRadar+, Miyamoto was asked why he thinks Nintendo's key franchises are so beloved all over the world. In response the Nintendo fellow says, "I wish someone would tell me," with a chuckle.

"I always hear people say 'why does a mustachioed old dude like Mario sell so well?'," he continues. "While I think that's rude, truthfully I've had the same thought. 'Why does this old guy sell so well?'"

Nintendo has plenty of human protagonists aside from Mario, but characters like Link and Samus look strong and give a powerful aura. They are heroes. Mario is a plumber.

However, there is an answer that Miyamoto has come up with, and it's not that people are just in awe of his stylish dungarees and rippling mustache. "The simple answer that I've come up with is that he's bundled with incredibly fun games," he says. We think he doesn't give the goomba-stomping gallivanter enough credit.

Shigeru Miyamoto knows some fans have "multiple Nintendo consoles at home," and hopes that'll become "the norm" in the future: "That would be the best scenario."

Nintendo fans have created a mod for a GameCube classic, with Better Super Mario Sunshine Online introducing 10-player multiplayer to Mario's most divisive 3D platformer.

There's two camps when it comes to Nintendo's 2002 platformer Super Mario Sunshine. There are those who really like it, and then there are cowards. Yes, it's a weird, somewhat flawed game sandwiched between two genre-defining masterpieces in the 3D Mario chronology, and yes it was rushed and a little glitchy, but beneath that paint covered exterior is a platformer with near-unmatched vibes, music, and – crucially for a platformer – movement.

Thankfully, there are others who are equally passionate about Mario's worst-selling 3D platformer (well, if you don't count the Super Mario 3D All Stars sales), as the modding community for the game is fairly active. The latest gargantuan mod however, brings the game one of the most popular mods from Super Mario 64's massive repertoire, as Better Super Mario Sunshine Online implements online play into the GameCube title.

The mod introduces 10-player co-op to the game, allowing you to collect each of the game's 120 Shine Sprites together. The mod syncs progress across all players modes too, to make the hunt for blue coins a team effort instead of the worst part of the game. On top of that, there's also a 10-player hide and seek mode for those who want something to compete in while taking advantage of the incredible movement tech in Super Mario Sunshine.

This isn't even just a simple mod that has multiple Marios on one screen, as the mod features "15 fully custom characters" with classic Mario legends like Wario, Luigi, Waluigi, and Shadow the Hedgehog, with unique custom animations for some of them. Obviously, you'll need to find at least one fellow Mario Sunshine apologist to play with, but let's be real, if none of your friends are willing to indulge your platforming fantasy, were they ever really your friends to begin with?

Super Mario Galaxy 2 is hiding an unused "joyful zone" area where Mario can't stop somersaulting, and he's absolutely thrilled about it

Mario very regularly has a huge smile on his face, whether he's stomping on sentient flowers or chowing down magical mushrooms, but there's one unused area in Super Mario Galaxy 2 that makes our already loveable plumber go into a somersaulting frenzy. And, seriously, I've never heard Mario sound so happy.

Super dedicated blogger and series archivist Supper Mario Broth recently found that Super Mario Galaxy 2 has been hiding an "unused 'joyful zone' area" for all these years. Should Mario step foot into the zone, he gets the zoomies and the giggles or, more plainly, he'll uncontrollably run and somersault and scream "Yahoo!" without stopping.

In a hilarious experiment, Supper Mario Broth recently "enveloped the entirety of Starship Mario in a joyful zone for demonstrative purposes." The result is incredible - you can watch it down below. I dare you not to smile, dear reader.

Rosalina and the Lumas are apparently immune to the joyful bug. Not everyone appreciates jumping high and being obnoxious about it as much as Mario, to be fair, but still.

In the game's files, the zone is apparently called "CometFireDanceArea," perhaps suggesting the mechanic was once intended for one of Super Mario Galaxy 2's Prankster Comets - special missions that would modify a pre-existing level with fun rules, asking you to race your cosmic doppelganger or beat a boss with one health point, say. I can definitely imagine a comet that would make Mario complete levels without stopping or jumping normally.

Nintendo added a bizarre "anti-brother romance failsafe" to NES Remix to stop Mario from getting too close with Luigi on Wii U, expert says

Nintendo apparently obliterated any chance of Mario and Luigi experiencing brotherly affection in Wii U retro challenge game NES Remix, and I can't help but feel a bit disappointed in the developer's flagrant bias against toxic yaoi. Come on, Nintendo, don't you know we're in the middle of a male loneliness epidemic?

Mario blogger and connoisseur Supper Mario Brother explained in a Bluesky post, with information discovered by Bluesky user DavidPCM, the way "NES Remix contains a graphic that seems to be an 'anti-brother romance failsafe' for Mario and Luigi." Nintendo appears to have been preoccupied with the idea. So much so that it preemptively altered a scene between Mario and Luigi that should be "normally impossible to reach in-game" anyway.

I can't quite fault Nintendo for this – "NES Remix incest glitch" sounds like something I would learn about from the front page of Reddit, and then my eyes would start bleeding. But, to defend hypothetical affectionate Mario and affectionate Luigi, I really think the graphic Nintendo devs were so worried about could be interpreted as familial. Their concern was with the standard pink heart that appears between Mario and Pauline once Mario finally rescues her in Donkey Kong.

been digging through NES Remix lately. one thing I've never seen before is that they edited the heart at the end of Donkey Kong to "GOOD JOB!" in the remixed stages with Luigi. Luigi never reaches 100M in that game, so it's never seen. It's also completely omitted in the .fcb for Bonus-4's mission.

— @davidpcm.bsky.social (@davidpcm.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-07-24T19:58:28.111Z

Supper Mario Broth reminds us that, in stages Remix 14 and 17 in NES Remix, Donkey Kong is all wiggled around. The game is mirrored, and Luigi replaces Mario as the hero to protect him, not Pauline, from Donkey Kong. In these topsy-turvy stages, it isn't actually possible to activate the heart graphic like you would in a regular game of Donkey Kong with Mario and Pauline.

"The only stages visited are 25m and 75m," says Supper Mario Broth, and the pink heart only appears in the black void sky when Pauline is whisked away at the 100m stage. So, heartbreakingly, "Mario never actually gets saved," clarifies Supper Mario Broth. Another man lost to the loneliness epidemic.

But just in case Mario managed to extricate himself from Donkey Kong, enroll himself in psychotherapy, and gain a new zest for life with the help of hobbies, friends, and indeed, a brother's love, the NES Remix devs decided to change Pauline's pink heart to a graphic for Mario that says "GOOD JOB!"

While I'm glad Mario is at least being encouraged to express praise, you never see him tell Luigi GOOD JOB! since the conditions for him to do so are nonexistent in NES Remix, like we established.

Ultimately, "it is unknown why the graphic was added," says Supper Mario Broth. "The developers could have planned to have the full game playable in that mode, or they could have changed the graphic purely as a precaution in case someone managed to get to 100m (e.g. via a glitch) to prevent implications of romantic love between Mario and Luigi."

So sorry, guys, but if you want to give each other an encouraging kiss on the forehead, it's going to have to happen somewhere else.

Mario Kart Tour is shutting down after 7 years, but Nintendo isn't planning on an Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp-style offline version.

One of the best platformers in recent years – the adorably bouncy Poinpy – is back from the dead and is now totally free. And in case the delightfully moreish game missed you the first time around, it's now unshackled from its Netflix Games cell.

For those out of the loop, Poinpy became a critically-acclaimed fan-favorite when it came out in 2022 as an exclusive in the Netflix Games catalogue. As long as you had a regular Netflix subscription, you could play as much Poinpy as you liked alongside a suite of other games.

But an entire year ago, Poinpy was removed from the service due to the expiration of a licensing deal, leaving the our blobby green hero in limbo since it wasn't available on any other platform. Publisher Devolver Digital has now revived the game and put it onto mobile storefronts for free – no purchase or Netflix account required.

Poinpy is now available to download on the iOS App Store and Google Play Store. Just don't let that 'In-App Purchases' note scare you off. "Poinpy is 100% free! There are no ads and no purchases required to play. If you love Poinpy and want to support the developer, please leave a tip," the storefront description explains.

That developer is Moppin, otherwise known as Ojiro Fumoto, who also made the equally excellent roguelike Downwell and contributed to UFO 50. Poinpy serves as somewhat of an answer to Downwell, however – instead of descending into a seemingly never-ending cavern of deadly creatures, Poinpy has you flicking the screen to send our hero flying up and up and up, bouncing on walls, off of enemies, and toward colorful fruit in the hopes of satiating the always-hungry, even bigger cat-like blob who's always licking its lips on the bottom of the screen. A true to life feline, that is.

Rationing a limited number of jumps per level, chaining together bounces to elongate your airtime, and finding oh so many secrets is an absolute blast. The whole thing feels so tactile to play and looks great, too, so now's your chance.

For more, check out the new games on the horizon and the upcoming indie games you should have on your radar.

Sonic Team lead Takashi Iizuka teases there's more to come within the series' many pillars, and that keeping the series' momentum is a challenge.

Sonic is simultaneously a yearly franchise and a franchise that feels like it's been missing. While 2026 is the first year without a new release for the series since 2018, it will feature a second season of DLC for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds.

However, fans have been wondering when a proper follow-up to Sonic Frontiers will finally emerge – possibly compounded by general disappointment with 2023's Sonic Superstars, the latest mainline entry in the series.

Speaking to 80.lv, Iizuka explains he sees the different branches of the series as pillars – such as 2D games, 3D games, spinoffs, and collaborations. He explains, "Each of the different pillars contributes in meaningful ways to the Sonic franchise, and we're looking forward to what we have in store."

As for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, Iizuka says the second season of DLC for the acclaimed racing game – which features collabs with Godzilla and Neon Genesis Evangelion – "signals our long-term investment in the game," and while it seemingly underperformed, it looks like Sega is happy to keep trying until everyone realizes that it's actually pretty sick.

Iizuka adds, "While keeping momentum in such a competitive market is always a challenge, our team remains dedicated to delivering content that stays true to the Sonic universe."

Most recently, a collab game between Sonic and indie hit Pico Park was announced. A decade ago, Sega apparently had the character on the chopping block, but fortunately the blue blur is likely here to stay for now… I really want to hear about that Frontiers sequel though.

Sonic fans couldn't wait for Sega's new alternate-reality game – until they spotted the AI training agreement.

DK Rap composer Grant Kirkhope has revealed he has made less than a dollar off the song's 1.5 million plays on TikTok.

The DK Rap is widely considered the most influential piece of music ever composed. This triumphant song about a group of five iconic simians transcended the Nintendo 64 game it was an intro to and made musical history. Without Lanky Kong, you probably wouldn't have had The Beatles debut about 40 years earlier.

At the very least – whether through meme remixes (see below), ironic enjoyment, or just appreciation for art – the DK Rap has become a staple of the series, arguably being more popular than Donkey Kong 64 itself with appearances in Super Smash Bros., The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and most recently, Donkey Kong Bananza. DK Rap composer Kirkhope has embraced the fandom around the song with a remake of the song for it's 25th anniversary, and by making the "Yooka-Laylee Rap" for the titular game.

Over on Twitter, Kirkhope comments on the song's enduring popularity, saying: "In other news the DK Rap had 1.5 million plays on Tik Tok." But there's a caveat: "I got paid 56 cents."

While the amount artists make off their music in the streaming era is a hot topic as of late, having the numbers laid out in front of you like that is somewhat wild. Kirkhope follows up the tweet, saying: "It shouldn't surprise me that most people don't know how music royalties work. Most composers don't either…"

Unfortunately, Kirkhope hasn't had too much luck with the DK Rap as of late, as famously the song's appearance in the Mario Movie didn't result in him getting a credit in the film, with a generic "Nintendo" credit shown. Kirkhope admitted last year: "I still haven't watched the movie yet. I've seen that bit with the rap. But I was so pissed I haven't watched it."

Donkey Kong Bananza devs admit the blatantly OP elephant transformation "probably went too far," but "it's fun" and "that's what matters most."

Kirby and Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai and Square Enix are celebrating the 43rd anniversary of the release of Nintendo's first major home console, the Famicom.

As Super Mario Bros and The Legend of Zelda are fresh off celebrating their 40th anniversaries, and Donkey Kong celebrated its 45th last week, Nintendo's first proper home console – not counting the single-game Color TV-Game series, which had been released beforehand – the Famicom celebrates its 43rd today. While it would take another couple of years for the console to arrive as the NES in North America (and another couple on top for the UK), the Famicom dropped in Japan on July 15, 1983, with Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., and Popeye in tow.

Sakurai, whose sole NES credit is directing Kirby's Adventure, which was one of the final Nintendo-published releases on the system, posted on Twitter (via machine translation) wishing the console a happy 43rd anniversary. He added that the platform – despite consoles releasing before and after – had the biggest impact on him as a game creator.

Square Enix also posted a short video celebrating the release of the classic console, showing the original Final Fantasy booting up on the platform (with a Dragon Quest box sitting off to the side). The two most iconic and influential JRPG series of all time both started on the platform, making it a crucial place for the genre.

Back in 2023, Sakurai released a video about the Famicom on his 'Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games' YouTube show, where he dubbed it "perfect". The director opened the video saying, "I can proudly say I've developed a game for the Famicom, aka the Family Computer. That makes me pretty lucky!"

Sakurai bought the console in 1983 – owning one of the earlier models which featured square buttons instead of the circular A and B buttons seen by the time the NES was released. As for one reason the console remains such an iconic part of his life, he points out the massive leaps in game development back then, using the gulf in scope between 1983's Mario Bros. and 1985's Super Mario Bros. as an example.

He points out that there are a number of game developers like Nier's Yoko Taro, Devil May Cry's Hideki Kamiya, Kingdom Hearts' Tetsuya Nomura, and Doom's John Carmack who are the same age as Sakurai, "but only a small handful of them ever actually developed a game for the Famicom."

Sakurai adds, "If the Famicom had never existed, the shape of the modern game market – really the entire video game industry – would be completely different." And that even though the games are easily available and may seem quaint now, Sakurai says, "what I really want to stress is that at the time, it truly was an absolute dream machine."

Super Smash Bros creator Masahiro Sakurai sometimes "sounds exactly like Goku," ex-Tekken boss says: "A Saiyan who genuinely believes he's just another ordinary human"

Toys For Bob leads say they are more than happy for Spyro: A Realm Beyond to share the 3D platformer spotlight as the genre goes through a resurgence thanks to games like Astro Bot and more.

Kinda Funny Gamescast spoke to Spyro: A Realm Beyond associate creative director Lou Studdert and studio head Paul Yan. As part of that, the duo was asked how they feel about 3D platformers outside of Toys For Bob and if we're entering a so-called "Golden era" for the genre. Studdert says, "I don't know about golden era, but it's a resurgence. Definitely." This return for the genre is something he says "warms my heart because that is totally my genre of choice." He also singles out the announcement of Rayman Legends Retold, calling it "awesome," and that 2024's Astro Bot was "game of the year."

Studdert adds that he "couldn't be more happy" explaining, "It is so great because these are the experiences that, you know, the reason that I play games is because I grew up with those experiences."

Studdert calls the platformer "the purest form of video game in my mind," saying that it's "about the fantasy of controlling a different character and the fun and joy that comes in the responsiveness and how you interact with the world. And it's like you can layer other things on that, but to me, that's like the source of what makes a fun video game is just exploring a space and having a unique character and a unique way of doing that."

While AAA platformers are still very rare compared to the amount we got in the PS2 days, Studdert also shouts out "a ton of really amazing indie platformers," which has helped the genre remain relevant today. He says, "It's the more the merrier. It's phenomenal. I love seeing it." And in cases like Wario Land, Banjo-Kazooie, and Mystical Ninja, indie games like Pizza Tower, Yooka-Laylee, and Bakeru are probably the closest we'll ever get to those series' return.

Spyro: A Realm Beyond devs didn't want their platformer to be a "flight simulator," so you can't leave your favorite dragon on "autopilot"

The first all-new Spyro game in 18 years, Spyro: A Realm Beyond, is finally set to launch early next year, but the devs at Toys for Bob have had to be careful not to get too carried away with their "cool ideas" that would see the platformer run out of budget and time.

Associate creative director Louis "Lou" Studdert and studio head Paul Yan recently appeared on an episode of the Kinda Funny Gamescast, where they were asked if there were any moments during development when they realised they were going too far.

The answer is yes, though Studdert explains that "every game is like that" since there's so much "eyeballing" and "napkin math" involved as the team works out what elements might need cutting back, and what they might want more of.

"There are areas where you tighten the belt, and there's areas where you expand," he continues. "Just part of the game development process."

Yan adds to this, noting that "scope creep is a real thing." There's a simple reason for this: "Every time you're in a conversation with creative folks, it's always like, 'Wouldn't it be cool if this happened?'"

And yes, Yan says, "they absolutely are cool ideas, but if you commit to every single one of those, you know, without some discipline, then your game blows out of budget and blows out of time."

Thankfully, this isn't Toys for Bob's first rodeo. The studio has "high tenure folks who have worked together and can complete each other's sentences," and are also so "highly senior" that they know the drill when it comes to shipping games and understanding "'what is the scope within our team,'" Yan says.

In summary, he concludes, "We know ourselves, and we know when things are a little bit beyond our reach, or too much, and then we'll pull it back down to be what's appropriate for us developing it and also for the experience."

One thing the devs haven't held back on, however, is A Realm Beyond's flight system. In the same podcast, the devs explain that they wanted flying to be a very "active" thing, and crucially, not like a "flight simulator" where you can leave Spyro on "autopilot." So, expect you can find plenty of "decision-making" there.

Spyro: A Realm Beyond dev says the "loud and consistent" fans who bought 11 million copies of the Reignited trilogy helped manifest the series' first new game in years.

Spyro: A Realm Beyond introduces the ability to fly around freely as the titular purple dragon, but the devs at Toys for Bob want you to know that they've not made a "flight simulator," because "we want active decision-making."

Speaking on a new episode of the Kinda Funny Games podcast, associate creative director Louis "Lou" Studdert confirms that flying isn't just some sort of passive ability that you can use with zero thought – you'll have to put the effort in, pushing buttons, to guide Spyro around the sky.

"We wanted to make sure that it is active. It is decision-making. It is pressing buttons. It is almost, you know, that platforming feel of evaluating a play space and figuring out how to continue," Studdert says.

Pointing to some gameplay footage, Studdert explains that Spyro can dive downwards "to pick up speed," as well as "use his flame breath, spit a fireball at distance to ignite a campfire to create a wind updraft to give him quicker lift," before the player presses a button "to flap his wings to push on his momentum and keep his speed up." Spyro can also activate "sky rings" for a boost in the air.

"It's really about evaluating the play space," he continues. "It's looking [at] what you can interact with and connecting all of those to sustain your momentum and to keep going."

Toys for Bob studio head Paul Yan chimes in: "It's super important for us that the player is able to say, 'Look at that thing off in the distance. How do I get there? And then how do I leverage the environments around me and my abilities in order to do that?' Because what we don't want is for it to be a flight simulator where we say, 'OK, here's the destination, hit in the GPS, we're going to coast and get there.' There's no fun in that."

Yan reiterates that there's "no autopilot" option for Spyro's flight because "we want active decision-making." He explains: "Platforming as a term in this flight space is a little bit different than platforming like jumping on the ground, but similarly, we want that kind of decision-making to happen in that space."

Spyro: A Realm Beyond is set to release early next year, and Yan previously told us that the devs "want not just one new game, but many new games. We hope that this is the first of many." With that in mind, hopefully we won't be waiting another 18 years for the next all-new one.

"Going independent meant taking a massive, massive risk": How Toys for Bob split off from Activision and Xbox to help guide Spyro to A Realm Beyond.

Nintendo is celebrating the 45th Anniversary of Donkey Kong today, so I've hit the digital badlands of eBay. That original date refers to everyone's favorite gorilla's first outing in arcades, but I'm taking things back to the home console this week. Looking to build the ultimate Donkey Kong collection in time for the big boy's birthday? I've got you covered.

Below, you'll find every major Donkey Kong game released into our hands and homes (though I've omitted re-releases in the form of compilations, mini-games, virtual consoles, digital bonuses, and DSI-only downloads), alongside eBay's average sold price at the time of writing.

In short, it's everything you need to start plugging some holes in your collection or start right from scratch with the cheapest pickups. We're taking this banana-train all the way through to the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 to boot - where the games listed will run alongside their lowest prices on the web right now.

Before Cranky Kong gets ahead of me, just note that some of the prices below may seem a little high at first glance. That's because this is a full average of all recently sold listings - whether it's pristine in box or simply a cart in a bag.

Donkey Kong Game and Watch games

Donkey Kong NES games

Donkey Kong SNES games

Donkey Kong Game Boy games

N64 Donkey Kong games

Donkey Kong Game Boy Advance games

Donkey Kong GameCube games

Donkey Kong Nintendo DS games

Donkey Kong Wii games

Donkey Kong 3DS games

Donkey Kong Wii U games

Donkey Kong Nintendo Switch games

Donkey Kong Nintendo Switch 2 games

Nintendo has finally added Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 to Nintendo Switch Online, and it only took three years.

Nintendo Switch Online's Nintendo Classics lineups are weird. The release schedules are strange; sometimes absolutely essential titles don't appear while the weirdest games possible show up – N64 still doesn't have Super Smash Bros, but we do have Iggy's Reckin' Balls.

However, the absolute weirdest of those is the Game Boy, which got licensed titles like the licensed game of Warner Bros. Quest For Camelot before Super Mario Land or Donkey Kong '94 arrived.

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins arrived at launch, while the original – literally the first Game Boy game ever released – took a year and three months. The same goes for Wario Land, the Switch app launched with Wario Land 3 back in February 2023, with the original or its sequel nowhere to be found.

Meanwhile, Wario Land 4 hit GBA last year, Wario World arrived on GameCube, and Virtual Boy Wario Land launched alongside the new app this year, making the entire series, barring the first two (and the Wii-exclusive, The Shake Dimension), available.

That changes today however, as almost three-and-a-half years down the line from the Game Boy's introduction to the Switch Online library, Nintendo has confirmed that the first game starring Mario's bulky rival Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 is on Switch Online. The game drops alongside Fortified Zone and The Sword of Hope 2, while the GBA app is getting Dr Mario and Puzzle League (two games that are available in multiple forms on other apps, but still a good game regardless).

Nintendo fans have a tendency to accuse Nintendo of having some beef with franchises that are rarely seen – see: Metroid from 2010-2017, Star Fox before 2026, F-Zero, Mother fans who can't accept the series is just over – but Nintendo is so consistently weird with Wario Land that I can't help but wonder how people at the company feel about it. Wario's representation in Super Smash Bros. for example is almost entirely based around the WarioWare series with only his dash attack shoulder barge being from his first series, and it's been almost two decades since the last entry – which released the same year he was added to Smash Bros.

With the resurgence of Wario-like indie titles like Pizza Tower and Antonblast, hopefully there's some fire to go along with the smoke of a new Wario Land game, of which rumors emerged last month.

WarioWare: Move It is the Smooth Moves spiritual successor I've always wanted

Less than seven years since launch, Nintendo has announced that its free-to-play Mario Kart game, Mario Kart Tour, is shutting down, with no offline equivalent to keep it playable once its servers go down.

Specifically, Mario Kart Tour will be unplayable from September 29, 2026, at 11pm PT – equivalent to September 30 at 2am ET or 7am BST. "We sincerely thank the many players who have loved and supported the game since service began so long ago," Nintendo says in its shutdown notice.

With the announcement, Nintendo has also ended the sale of Rubies (in-game currency), and stopped new purchases and automatic renewals of the game's Gold Pass subscription. Anyone with an existing subscription can "continue to enjoy Mario Kart Tour Gold Pass benefits, minus continuous-subscription benefits," for free until the game's shutdown, and those without a subscription will be given the same benefits from August 4.

Worst of all for any fans of Tour, though, is Nintendo's confirmation that "an offline version is not scheduled for release." When Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp's end of service was announced back in 2024, Nintendo immediately confirmed that it was developing a way to save your game data and let you keep playing, with the one-time-purchase release Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete coming along to save the day for longtime fans.

It seems that with Mario Kart Tour, fans will just have to cling onto the game's tracks that made it into Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and World. There are quite a few – 8 Deluxe added the likes of Tokyo Blur, Paris Promenade, and Sky-High Sundae, for example, with the latter returning in World. Here's hoping that more tracks could get preserved in Mario Kart World as DLC over time. The Switch 2 game only last week was updated with two new Knockout Tour routes, though these didn't add any traditional new tracks – just new ways to experience the old ones.

While you're here, be sure to check out our ranking of the best Mario Kart games.

It's been nearly seven years now since Activision and Toys for Bob released Spyro: Reignited Trilogy – and there's a reason the well-received three-in-one remake feels so faithful to its old counterparts from the late 90s and early 2000s.

In case you've never played the remade trilogy, it's pretty solid – in fact, it plays exactly as I remember the original few games playing, striking the perfect balance between nostalgia and quality of life (I'm looking at you, OG PlayStation controls).

Toys for Bob studio head Paul Yan explains how and why the developers pulled this off in a new discussion with Kinda Funny on YouTube – and insightful is an understatement here.

According to the lead, the team first tried to find source code in-house so it could "reconstruct it" for the Reignited Trilogy.

So, instead, "one of our engineers took an open- source emulator and then modified that so that we looked at the original game and actually peered into its data, extracted a lot of the models… We extracted the levels. We measured all the metrics. We found the exact placement for every gem."

That's not all, though. "We measured the timing, the speed, and the paths of certain enemies." In other words, they delved deep into the modified emulator. "It gave us a lot of metrics that gave us the authenticity on that side of it," as Yan says.

Obviously, they did change some things so that Spyro: Reignited Trilogy wouldn't feel too "old," so to speak – the controls, as I joked earlier, are one of the bigger things.

And, honestly, I'm grateful that they did. As associate creative director Lou Studdert chimes in, after all, players tend to have "rose-tinted glasses" on when approaching retro games like Spyro.

You imagine them looking and playing a whole lot differently than they actually did – but the devs took that into account with Spyro: Reignited Trilogy, and it's better for it. I do wonder, though… how will Spyro: A Realm Beyond feel, in contrast?

We have some very exciting features – like free flight and such – to look forward to, but also the same colorful visuals that made the original games so comforting. Personally, I can't wait to give it a go… a new entry has been a long time coming.

"Going independent meant taking a massive, massive risk": How Toys for Bob split off from Activision and Xbox to help guide Spyro to A Realm Beyond

Somehow, someway, the Super Mario 64 speedrunning scene miraculously finds a way to outdo itself time and time again. A three-year-old record was just beaten, by a true expert of the classic platformer who's still finding ways to be the most efficient jumping Italian plumber around.

The record-setter in question here is Suigi, a name you'll be familiar with if you know Super Mario 64 speedrunning at all, and just a few years after he crushed a time for 16 star completion, he's managed to do it again. This go around, he somehow found a way to shave a few seconds off, for a truly astounding finish of 14 minutes and 32 seconds.

"I wasn't done," he says in a post on Twitter. "FIRST 16 STAR WORLD RECORD IN OVER 3 YEARS."

The record prior was 14 minutes and 35 seconds, set in March 2023. While this mightn't seem like a huge jump, when you're talking about relays this small, even getting a full second lower is an achievement. Suigi's leapfrogged significantly more than that.

It mightn't shock you to hear he beat his own record in March 2023 as well. A dominant force when it comes to Mario's big out on the Nintendo 64, Suigi is top of the leaderboards on speedrun.com for every major, full-game category on the platform.

Outside of 16 star, those are 120 star, 70 star, one star, and zero, and Suigi's the man to beat across them all. Again, these are all on native hardware as well, in this instance on Japanese copies of the game as they're the fastest in terms of loading times and text and the like.

In speedrunning, every little helps. Seeing this, I have to wonder how long it'll be before the threshold of 14 minutes and 30 seconds will be reached. It might be a while considering the minute ways runs can be tightened further, but I wouldn't discount Suigi at all. Let's reconvene in three years and see where we're at.

Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy maestro Tetsuya Nomura says Super Mario 64 "truly shaped my current guiding principle" when moving to 3D JRPGs.

Donkey Kong 64: Recompiled promises to give us all a perfected version of Rare's N64 collectathon, playable on PC complete with modern resolutions, high frame rates, and extensive additional features via mods. The project isn't ready for release just yet, but the devs have a good reason for announcing it early – they want to make sure their version is front of mind instead of a "poorly made" alternative built with AI code.

The trailer for DK64: Recompiled covers pretty much all of the bases you'd expect from a project of this nature, building a new version of the game for various PC platforms with the help of the N64: Recompiled tool that was released back in 2024. Donkey Kong 64 still has a controversial reputation among Nintendo fans thanks to its vast pile of collectables and massive difficulty spikes, but for those whose love of the game remains true, this will likely be an ideal way to play it.

But, of course, it's not yet available, and won't be until later this summer. In a Reddit comment (thanks, Kotaku), developer Ballaam says that the team normally wouldn't announce a project so early, but there's "a competitor who is vibe coding their way through, and doing a very poor job of it. As such, we want to get our intention out that we're doing a recomp of actually good quality before our competitor releases their poorly made one and some infrastructure is built around that one."

I'm not qualified to speak on how useful AI code is to experienced programmers – Gabe Newell is certainly excited about it – but the fans behind projects like this have been inundated with examples of it being used badly. Earlier this year, the devs behind PS3 emulator RPCS3 starting begging would-be contributors to "stop submitting AI slop code" because it just wasn't worth the hassle of sorting through it all.

In theory, Donkey Kong 64: Recompiled should be able to serve as a platform for modders who want to expand the original game with new features and content, but that only works when you've got a strong foundation from the beginning. Even the announcement trailer for the project promises that it "does not rely on AI vibe coding," and it's clear the devs want to put their best foot forward for the community they're hoping to foster.

After years of suffering, Spyro fans suddenly have not just a brand-new game but an impending PC port of the OG PS1 classic with 60 FPS and "true widescreen" support.

2026 marks Sonic the Hedgehog's 35th anniversary, and at Summer Game Fest, I got the chance to play maybe the most unusual part of Sega's celebrations: Sonic Pico Park, a co-op puzzle platformer that once again puts Sega's iconic blue blur in the hands of beloved indie devs. It's a sign of an evolving game industry, and the developers bringing Sonic Pico Park to life know that Sonic's continued evolution is key to the character's long-term survival.

My hands-on time with Sonic Pico Park is equal parts delightful and frustrating – pretty much as you'd expect for an indie couch co-op game. Just like the rest of developer Tecopark's puzzle platformer series, you and your fellow players take control of an array of boxy little characters and cooperate to work your way through challenges custom-built to ruin relationships.

Co-op for devs and players alike

The difference here is that there are now Sonic-influenced twists to all the levels. You can spin dash through cracked walls, run through big loops, and bounce off of strategically placed springs. Naturally, these elements play into the puzzle design, too. You can collect rings which, in true Sonic fashion, will save you from a single hit – which means you need to strategically choose who takes each ring to survive the death traps that'll follow.

In one instance, you need to build a wall that one player can spin dash their way up. In another, you'll need a Tails player to fly the whole group across a big gap. The joy is in the discovery, so I won't spoil too many specific puzzle solutions, but it's all great fun. Of course, you'll already know the basics if you've played any of the Pico Park games before, but Tecopark sought out this collaboration in part because it wants to bring in new fans.

Pico Park is already wildly popular on its own merits, having sold some 8 million units. Creator Shunsuke "Teco" Miyake wanted to expand even further, however, and in 2021 formed a company to help the property reach the next level. "We really wanted to start expanding on Pico Park as an IP," as producer Shintaro Shimazu tells me via translator. "It was really popular with casual gamers, but we wanted to reach out and get even hardcore gamers and other people excited."

Shimazu explains that "we really thought we need to start collabing with IP," and since Miyake once worked at Sega, it was an obvious first choice. "Sonic is a great IP to collab with. It's got tons of appeal. People love it worldwide. Let's go to Sega. I doubt they'll ever let us even do this, but let's at least pitch it to them and see what they have to say. Maybe we'll get a skin or something small. To all of our disbelief, Sega was like, 'Actually, this is a great idea. Let me introduce you to the Sonic team, and let's start talking about doing a Sonic and Pico Park collab game together.'"

For Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka, seeing the beloved hedgehog and pals take on such a different type of gameplay was something of a shock, but Sega's previous big indie collaboration gave him confidence that it would work out.

"When I first saw the concept and the whole idea, I was kind of like, 'Is this gonna be a Sonic game?'" Iizuka tells me. "Like, 'I don't know how this collab is going to work.' But our experience working with the Sonic Mania team – they were also an indie developer, and they also had these ideas and kind of core beliefs that they wanted to execute on creatively."

While an eight-player co-op game was "something we on the Sonic Team side had never made before," that type of gameplay "was something that the team at Pico Park was really passionate about making." Iizuka did have at least one big suggestion for Tecopark, however: all the Sonic characters should have unique abilities. "It totally breaks the core game design of Pico Park," Iizuka admits, "but the team at Pico Park were really skilled at understanding the request, and then building around it."

Sonic madness meets Sonic Mania

Sega has now let indie developers make their own Sonic game multiple times, and it's not alone. We've gotten games like Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, The Rogue Prince of Persia, Cadence of Hyrule, and even the upcoming Castlevania: Belmont's Curse thanks to established publishers being open to allowing other developers to use their IP, and the results have largely been excellent. What's made it possible for these sorts of collaborations to happen in the modern era?

"I can't really speak for the other companies and maybe what they're thinking, but you know, from a Sega perspective, we do realize that making our big titles, it takes a lot of time, a lot of money," Iizuka explains. "It's a huge investment of, you know, the staff and the resources that we have, and then once you've invested all that time and energy into something, you really need to sell a lot of units in order to survive in the industry."

Indie developers, meanwhile, "have an idea, and they'll very quickly create that idea – that game experience – and then they'll continue moving forward and making more stuff. That's one thing that larger companies really can learn from the indie development scene – just how quickly they can take an idea, capture that, and put that into a game experience. It's really stimulating working with those indie developers." Iizuka believes this is a lesson Hollywood is already learning, and that AAA game studios should follow suit.

Partnering with indie studios also gives companies like Sega a chance to work with the very people whose love of video games was sparked by their characters. "I grew up in a household where we had a Super Famicom, but I was asking for a Mega Drive," Shimazu says. "My brother wanted a PlayStation, and I wanted to play Virtua Fighter. So I've always been that Sega fan at heart."

Of course, Shimazu was a Sonic fan, too, and has watched the character grow from a platformer protagonist to a multimedia mascot just like many of us have. "It was this really cool, unique character that I got to play with, and I really appreciated and enjoyed that time with the games," he says. "But when we look historically at what Sonic has been and where Sonic is going – Sonic's in movies, Sonic's in lots of different media. All these different ways of presenting Sonic to lots of people, I think, has been one of those ways to help Sonic survive."

Sonic's survival wasn't always assured. A decade ago, Sega had the character on the chopping block. But Iizuka thanks the fans for keeping the series alive even now, 35 years later – not to mention making sure that Sega stays on the right path.

"I'm sure you guys remember the Sonic 1 movie trailer that went out there. The fans really said, 'We don't like this, and we want things changed.' The teams listened to that, and they changed the design of Sonic for the movie. We're always constantly listening to the fans when we're thinking about the next game we want to make. Because the fans are there and they have been supporting us so much, we want to take the time – for the past 35 years – and really listen to what they want and deliver something that they're going to enjoy."

Gotta go fast to our list of the best Sonic games of all time.

The latest Mario Kart World Tour update is here, providing a list of changes and fixes for the Switch 2's signature racer. What's most exciting, however, is right at the top of the list, as there are two new routes you can zoom through in the Knockout Tour.

Nintendo has added two fresh rallies to the mode: Drill Rally and Boomerang Rally. The first takes you from Wario Shipyard through to the ever-present Bowser's Castle, and the second goes from Salty Salty Speedway right up to Whistlestop Summit. So, you're not getting any all-new tracks, but two fresh options to spice up the Knockout Tour experience.

A brief teaser shows the two of them in motion, and I'll always have a soft spot for the aesthetics of Bowser's Castle. All the lava permeating a huge, gothic castle, emblazoned by the master's face over and over? Pure heavy metal, I love it in each and every entry.

"You can select these if you have played one of the rallies in Knockout Tour," says Nintendo's post on the update. Even if you haven't touched this mode all that much, you're not far away from checking out either of these if you so choose.

Characters who have lower acceleration have been given a speed boost, as has the gliding speed of those on the roster who're a little faster on the road, though Nintendo doesn't explicitly say who is included in this wave of buffs. Another distinctly Nintendo addition is stickers in Photo Mode, just to make all your captures that much cuter and prettier. I try to stay away from these modes, because I become a little obsessed with them. Getting good angles is extremely satisfying!

Anyway, there's a plethora of bug fixes, including sorting out an issue where time trials would register the wrong time when you cross the finish line. I can only imagine the annoyance this one caused. The patch is available now.

Be sure to check out what's around the corner with our roundup of new games.

"This is life changing for our team," developer Little Legendary recently wrote on Twitter, and it makes perfect sense. The indie studio obliterated its Kickstarter goal for pretty Metroidvania SHADE Protocol in a single day.

Little Legendary wanted to hit its $240,000 Kickstarter stretch goal earlier this month after having already ground its base goal of $40,000 into invisible specks of dust. The developer was hoping to recruit Dark Souls singer Emi Evans, best known for her work as the main vocalist for the Nier series – and suddenly, it seemed like it could after donations flooded in with a spoonful of help from Evans herself, who shared her potential involvement with the game project on Twitter.

Ultimately, "We hit 150K+ wishlists, 10K followers on Steam, and surpassed $230K on Kickstarter all in the same day," said Little Legendary in a Twitter post earlier this month, "...and THEN Emi Evans, vocalist for NieR Automata and Dark Souls amongst many other games, shares that she's a stretch goal for our game." The studio exclaimed, "Don't wake me up please!"

As of writing, SHADE Protocol can comfortably add Evans to its cast. The game has $275,420 donations and counting, nearly seven times Little Legendary's original base goal. In fact, the music for SHADE Protocol – whose Steam page describes it as a fantasy where "music, code, and combat collide" – should now be able to feature both Evans and veteran Mega Man composer / stretch goal number three Matsumae Manami. SHADE Protocol's Kickstarter also confirms the game soundtrack will feature live musicians, who were part of stretch goal five, and the game will create an explorable biome devs are calling the Codesong, or goal seven, "the foundation of all reality, a place where music and code flow and dance together as one."

It's a good sign that Little Legendary is being so deliberate in choosing its music and the environments where it plays – it seems that blood-fortifying, adventurous music is integral to SHADE Protocol's story encouraging preservation of what's left of humanity in a technological collapse. In the game, layers will guide the black tea party dress-wearing android Zura through a lost civilization where there are at least many lovely pink trees. You'll use "Instruments" to defend yourself, which Little Legendary says in SHADE Protocol's Steam description are "powerful code-based weaponry inspired by music, each serving a unique role in battle and exploration."

It seems like SHADE Protocol could be a unique approach to what another developer might turn into another cyberpunk rhythm game, or another post-apocalypse. I'm eager for something new. After discovering its smash success Kickstarter, I'm hoping to experience SHADE Protocol for myself – and clearly, other people are, too.

These are the 25 best Metroidvania games you can already play in 2026.

Out of all the many speedy platformers out there starring Sega's blue blur, Takahashi Iizuka's favorite one is Sonic Adventure 2.

There are dozens upon dozens of Sonic the Hedgehog games out there, and Sonic Team's lead producer Takahashi Iizuka has been involved with several of them over the last three decades. But there's one game he feels was particularly memorable, and I'm not sure many series fans would disagree.

"I have fond memories of all of them, but if I had to pick one, it would be Sonic Adventure 2 from 2001," he says in an interview with Famitsu magazine (thanks, Genki!) "After finishing the previous game, Sonic Adventure, I took the staff with me to San Francisco to work on this game. While the previous project was a large-scale project involving over 100 people, development on Sonic Adventure 2 started with just 11 people."

"Just hearing this might make it sound like it was a tough development environment, but since we were a small team in a new location, I remember that we were all able to work together freely and enjoy the development while supporting each another both professionally and personally," Iizuka adds.

The head of Sonic Team thinks that smooth working environment also contributed to the game's quality because - surprise, surprise - people do better work when they're supported. Sonic Adventure 2 is now an absolute fan-favorite entry that's even inspired a few indie game love letters.

Sonic's 3D outing was so popular, in fact, it even provided the framework for the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 movie, something Iizuka was "really delighted" to see.

Thankfully, unlike many of the other best Sonic games of all time, Sonic Adventure 2 is pretty easily available on PC (Steam) and Xbox Series X|S consoles via backward compatibility.

On the topic of remakes that could potentially bring the beloved games to even more platforms, Iizuka recently said he would "love" to magically remake every Sonic game, but remakes would apparently take just as much time as developing an entirely new instalment.

Sonic fans couldn't wait for Sega's new alternate-reality game – until they spotted the AI training agreement

Decompilation projects continue to pay off with more and more native PC ports of classic games coming from fan developers. The Spyro fandom was already flying high with the announcement of a brand-new series entry earlier this month, and now the good times are continuing to roll with a PC port that promises to bring all sorts of modern bells and whistles to the OG PS1 classic.

I'll get the bad news out of the way first: this fanmade PC port is not yet available to the public. But according to lumilaura, a prodigious Spyro speedrunner who's been asked to put an early version of the port through its paces, a full release is coming "much sooner than we all think." As if to demonstrate how close that launch is, she's provided a minute of gameplay footage which you can see below, and it's looking sharp.

"You're not dreaming, this is Spyro 1 running natively on windows 11 with the brand new OpenPETE decomp + recomp hybrid by Amec/tyscorp," lumilaura explains. "60fps, true widescreen, no polygon wobble, perspective correct textures, the works."

While some fan projects along these lines have been marred by their use of AI-powered vibe coding, this one's being made with "no AI." Plus, the dev suggests that while the project only covers Spyro 1 for now, the two PS1 sequels could theoretically "be easily supported."

Of course, if you just want a modern-looking take on the original Spyro you could just dive into the Reignited Trilogy, but that's a fundamentally different experience to the actual OG. As lumilaura adds in a follow-up post, this port "runs 1:1 with console behind the scenes," right down to all the tricks and glitches that power the speedrun scene.

The devs behind the upcoming Spyro: A Realm Beyond credit the "loud and consistent" fans who bought 11 million copies of the remake with helping manifest the new game, and I'd say this kind of PC port only reinforces just how dedicated the Spyro fandom is. Now, after years of famine, they're finally getting the opportunity to feast.

Spyro: A Realm Beyond devs "hope that this is the first of many" new games in the series: "We want Spyro to live on for a long time."